Keep Money, Pay Off Debt & Build Wealth with Germaine Foley

 Welcome back to the podcast y’all. This is gonna be a fun conversation because I have a fellow money coach, a money podcaster that I am so excited to have on the podcast. I have the amazing Jermaine. Foley with me, who is a certified life and money coach, who helps women who earn good money, but still feel stuck financially.

So after paying off $200,000 of debt without giving up travel and the things that she loved, she created a practical approach to building wealth without extreme budgeting. Now she teaches other high achieving women how to grow their net worth and enjoy life. At the same time. So I am so excited to dive into Jermaine’s Brain and find out how the heck she did this, paying $200,000 of debt off and reaching your financial goals without this mega restriction and without giving up the joys in your life.

So we’re gonna dive into the strategy of that, the mindset of that, and I’m gonna ask all the juicy questions for all of you. So welcome, Jermaine. Thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me, Jamie.

I am so excited for this conversation. 

Me too. Okay. So since I’m talking to a fellow money coach, I gotta find out. How did you get into money coaching? Like was that something you always knew you wanted to do? Did it always call you? Did you always like money or, yeah. Tell me.

My money used to be a hot mess.

You all A hot

Okay. I think that’s how most of us start out.

A hot mess. Tell me more. Yeah, so I was, I always say I was good at making money, but I was really bad at keeping it. And so it had gotten to a place. My story is, um, it’s a long story, but I will say that it got to a place where I had two kids in daycare and. Up until that moment, my husband and I, we were just living life.

We were, our thing was we, we make good money, we’ll figure it out. Like we can afford it. We work hard, we deserve it. All the things, right? So we would just buy whatever we wanted. Every debt you could imagine, we had it on top of our student loans and our mortgage and you know, we were like making things work, right?

We would ride Paul to pay Peter. We would do some 0% transfers on credit cards. You know, take a 401k loan.

Very strategic. But when we had two kids in daycare, that’s when we couldn’t juggle the balls anymore. It was just like, okay, our mortgage and our daycare bill were, were the exact same amount of money.

Yeah.

And so that’s when it just got really tight and the stress, overwhelm, anxiety, that waking up in the middle of the night worrying and thinking about money. That it just overtook me and I was like, okay, I gotta do something. I can’t keep living like this. So. Yeah, that’s, that’s kind of the turning point right there.

Okay.

Okay. And what, what were you doing before you were coach? Were you in a, a corporate career or what were you doing

Well, yes. So I had a corporate job. I still have a corporate job and I’m in sales and marketing my husband. So together we were making like multiple six figures, right. We were doing.

Everything right on the outside, look from the outside looking in, it looked like we had it all together. And that’s how we lived and that’s how we justified it all. Because we just kept saying, we make good money, we can handle it, we can afford it, we deserve it. And so once I was able to figure out my money issues, that’s when I was just like, I have to help other women who were like me, women who were high earners,

Yep.

really good money, but still silently suffering.

Silently

suffering. 

hundred percent, yes. I love this conversation because I don’t think this is talked about enough in money coaching, and I feel like there’s peop, typically when you’re learning about money, it’s either like, okay, how to actually start earning money or how to make money, but I feel like this conversation.

Surrounding, you know, well wait, what about the person who does make a lot of money, but they feel way over their head, never learned how to actually manage it, never learned how to regulate their emotions around it, never learned any strategies, and then feels this crazy amount of shame about it because they’re like, wait a minute, but I’m making so much.

How am I in this place? It’s so big and I’m so excited that we get to have this conversation. So I wanna dive into a couple of different pieces with you because I know you’ve overcome a lot with this journey. And one of the biggies is paying, I mean, more than a biggie, what a celebration to pay off $200,000.

In debt. That is amazing. And I wanna dive into two different pieces of that. I’d love to talk about the strategies of it and how you have started approaching it strategically, a way that maybe worked for you or that you see working for other people who are wanting to pay down debt. And then I’d also love to talk about the mindset of it and some of the shifts.

That, uh, maybe you started making in terms of how you started thinking about money or seeing debt or holding it, that made all the difference. Do you have one that you wanna talk about 

I mean, let’s just go for the strategy because that’s what everybody thinks you need, is this good old strategy, right?

Yep.

Yep. But we know there’s so much more to it. Um, so my strategy was very, very simple. Um, I use. I did a, the debt snowball. So I just use, and I feel like with my clients now, I have so many different strategies you can choose from, but that’s the one I use because you get those psychological wins. So we just, um, listed them from smallest to the largest amount and we just started knocking ’em off.

Um, and the way I was able to do that, like, let’s zoom out a little bit, is because I adopted this approach of do both because. If you think about what is being taught around getting out of debt and investing and saving and building wealth, it is all about deprivation and restriction. Yeah,

Yep.

is all like, stop going to restaurants, stop buying lattes, eat rice and beans, all the things.

Right? And so

80 hours a week if you have to. And you know, don’t live your life. Kill yourself.

Deliver pizza. I’m like, it the, that’s what the, that’s what the rhetoric is. And none of it resonated with me. None of it, but like pieces of it, like the, like, okay, but the debt snowball makes sense, but I don’t wanna have to live like that in order to do the debt snowball.

So I figured there had to be a better way. And that’s the do both where you, so this kind of gets into the mindset of, Instead of thinking you have to choose between either or, like I either can enjoy my life and live my life, or I can get my money under control. I just decided to put those together and decided I was gonna do both.

I was gonna figure out a way to build wealth. And enjoy life. And for us, the first step of building our wealth was getting out of all of that debt for us because we were in a hole. And you know, getting out of debt gets you back to ground zero and then you get to start building hills and mountains from there.

And so that was the mindset piece I think that kept me going where it was sustainable. I, I wasn’t burning out, I was able, ’cause that was a big amount, like you said. And if you think about it on paper, it could take. A decade to get out of that much debt. But if, especially if you’re doing it in a way that’s unsustainable, where you’re restricting yourself, depriving yourself like you’re going on this diet, then

it’s 

it’s yo-yo.

It’s yo-yo,

it’s the same thing. A hundred. It’s not

It’s not. And so that’s how I was able to do it, because I picked a way that was sustainable. Yeah. Yes.

So I think we need to dive into that a little. I’d love to dive into that a little bit more because I think a lot of listeners are probably asking, well, how, here’s the problem. I’m making this much, the debt payment is this, my mortgage? Is this, the kids are this, the business is this. I don’t see a a way in which.

I can do it sustainably and they get overwhelmed by it and they think it’s not possible.

Mm-hmm.

So I’m wondering if you could talk to that person and maybe share what worked for you, what you’ve seen work for your 

Yes. So, so again, we’re talking to people who really are making good money, right? And I, I kind of say like the do both method is like, this is for people who already are, are making the money, the money’s coming in. So if you’re thinking that way, I wonder if you, if that person have sat down and actually And sat down. And so I’ll tell you my story. So when we first decided we were gonna do this, I literally looked at every expenditure and I found that we were literally like blowing like $2,000 a month or just random stuff like. So, you know how when people say, I don’t even know where all my money’s going.

Yeah. You find that money and so usually with my clients, we, we sit down, we get really well, it’s not usually we always, we get clear on where everything is going and they always find the money. Again, we’re talking about women who are on paper or if they’re married, they can be single. They are, the money is coming in, but they just don’t know where it’s going.

So that’s the first step is just, okay, let’s. Stop putting our head in the sand. Let’s look, because I think a lot of people avoid it. 

Wow. So a

lot of times the money is just already there. It’s just going to things that are totally unintentional and yeah. How did that feel for you to actually recognize that the money was already there and it was just going to things that, like you said, it was just blowing the money.

It’s so empowering. One of my, I was just with a client the other day, she was like, I feel so much in, more in control now. Like, I see it like I never looked before. And you know, it, it, and when they do, look, it’s, it’s from this place of like shame and like, oh, I spent too much.

But when you really go in like. A detective, just like, I just wanna know where all the money’s, like, pretend like some someone’s missing and you’re like, I’m a detective, I’m gonna figure out where it’s all going. And that’s, that’s the mindset. So all the shame and all the, you know, blaming yourself that goes out the window.

Yeah. And you’re just looking for data. Like, I really wanna know what’s happening here. ’cause you deep down know that it’s going somewhere and you just need to figure out where.

yeah, yeah. Okay. So I would love to hear and actually help our, listen the listeners shift how they see looking at money, because I think people. Think about looking at their money or they think about budgeting and starting to like gain that awareness and sitting down and they automatically feel tight and restricted in their body and they think the only way I can look at it and actually make a change is to feel restricted.

And then they just keep avoiding it and avoiding it. Or if they do it, they feel totally restricted while they’re doing it. It feels absolutely terrible and then it’s not 

Mm-hmm. 

So how do you. How did you start looking at it in a way that felt, I imagine you had to shift the way you looked at it so that it didn’t feel so heavy.

For us it was like, okay.

For me it was the commitment. Like, so when I talked about the do both method, it literally, or the do both mindset. It’s a commitment to say, listen, I’m going to, I’m gonna build wealth and I’m also going to enjoy my life at the same time. ’cause there’s no other way to do it in a way that’s gonna. Be sustainable.

So that’s the mindset. It’s like a commitment almost. Like I am going to do both. And so you got, then you have to get clear on, okay, what does that mean? What does that actually mean? To enjoy, build wealth and enjoy life? So first let’s talk about what it means to enjoy life. Some people think just being unintentional and being able to spend however you want when you want, without thinking about it.

It’s enjoying life, but it really isn’t. It really So, so it’s getting to the, your core, like what is it based on the season of life you’re in, you know, depending on your family structure, your finances, your financial, uh, situation, what is most important to you right now? So we get clear on those things.

So start spending on those things. Prioritize, and they’re gonna change over the ti over, you know, as you grow and as your financial situation change and as you get older, it’s gonna change. And then look based on your finances where you are, we pick a financial goal that we’re gonna really go all in on.

And then from there, that’s how you, that’s your moment of do both. Like I, I’m, this is what I’m prioritizing for lifestyle and this is what I’m prioritizing for money. And of course I’m gonna live in the process, like take care of my household and things like that. So, yeah.

Yes. Okay. You just mentioned two.

Bacon nuggets of gold that I just wanna emphasize,

Like what are they?

reflect because I think it’s so good. The first one is the do both method. I love this so much because I think the way that our brains, maybe our programmed, I don’t know if it’s just our primitive brain or if it’s our programming, but we can tend to be so all or nothing.

And I think that thought, what if I could do both or I can do both and just deciding. I can have. Both is so empowering and something that many people probably haven’t even, um, considered. So I love that and I think that could be a really fun mantra for people of, I can have both, right? Especially if you’re trying to either get out of debt or this also might be maybe you’re trying to build up your savings or your investment

accounts and you’re also.

Um, you know, wanting something else, right? You’re wanting to also spend some money or go on vacations. It’s like, what if with your financial goals you can have it all? It just might look a little bit different than you thought. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. So I love that so much. So much. And then the other thing that you mentioned that I really love was,

wrote it down,

what was the other piece you were talking about?

I just felt like I, um, oh, the, the figuring out what really matters to you, like Yes.

Yes. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. And then the other piece is the getting crystal clear. And I actually think the piece that most people probably don’t get clear on is they may get clear on their financial goals, but they actually probably don’t get clear on their life goals. And this is something we talk about a lot in manifest.

Station is the power of getting crystal clear on what you want, and so what does it actually look like to enjoy life? Getting clear on that helps you eliminate and take away what’s not that, which maybe you’re spending your money on and you’re like, wait a minute. Like you said, it’s these things that we didn’t even enjoy.

It didn’t even add to our life, but we were spending money on. So God, I think that’s. So powerful, and I love that you have developed that and created it and lived it, and now teach it is so good and such an example of what’s possible because it’s oftentimes not what we read or hear about. Paying down debt or hitting your financial goals.

So I think it’s just so freeing and empowering and actually makes people wanna do it when you can have it both. So That’s so good. So, um, I’m also curious in terms of staying debt free, a lot of people kind of struggle with that. Like maybe they’ll pay down the debt or they’ll pay off the debt, but they’re struggling to actually stay debt free.

Yeah. Any

Any words of wisdom on 

Yes. So before I give you my, uh, thoughts on that, I want people to think about, like, the goal is not to just get out of debt just for the sake of getting out of debt.

You wanna get out of debt because. Especially if it’s high interest because you are paying compounding interest to companies versus the credit card companies versus you earning it. And that’s where the real magic of wealth happens when you are really investing. So I teach like a little metaphor, like if you’re in a high interest debt, you’re kind of in the.

The ground, like you’re in a hole. And then once you’re out of that, you’re like ground zero. And then you wanna create a he for yourself. And that’s like a big chunk of cash, that’s just liquid and high yield savings account. It gives you that financial security, makes you feel like I’ve got a cushion between me and life.

And then from there, you’re building your investments and that’s your mountain top. So that’s where we’re trying to go here. So just to be clear. And so when you think about it that way. That’s a motivation to stay out of debt. Right? So you’ve gotta have your why of why you want it, because it’s like, oh, getting out what’s, there’s nothing wrong with being in debt, honestly.

No. There’s nothing wrong

And some debts. Yeah, I, I love that you also said like it’s about looking at your debt and making this a conscious choice. It’s not just getting outta debt for the sake of it, because sometimes actually being, having some debt can be the best thing financially, sometimes with a mortgage or there’s certain

or an investment that you wanna make in yourself, you know? A hundred percent. So I’m not anti debt. I’m not at all. And I think for, um, credit card debt, like, unless it’s an investment in you. Yep. You know, I don’t know. You wanna have some return on it, but, so staying out of debt, one of the main reasons why people, um, pay it off and go right back in is ’cause sometimes they’re doing it in a like quick fix way.

So they get a lump sum and they’re like, oh, I’m just gonna get out of debt. So they didn’t change on the inside. So if you think about me. I couldn’t do that in one swoop. I couldn’t pay off 200,000 in one swoop. So I became someone different in that process. And so sometimes, even if people have a lump sum, I, I recommend that you go through the pro, let’s put that in savings and go through the process of paying it off at least for a little while so that you can go through like the mindset and become the person who pays off debt and stays out.

So one so good.

So good.

Yes. Go. Yes. Yes. I mean, because think about it, we do it all. People do it all the time. It’s like this, yo-yo, they like dieting, 

Totally. Or like people who win the lottery. They didn’t sometimes, I mean, and this is why a massive percentage of people who win a huge lump sum of money, they didn’t become the person who knows how to have money. They didn’t build the skill of creating money. So oftentimes. Um, and you can learn it once you’re there, of course, or you could pay off that debt and learn to be that person.

But you have to know that this is a skill. It’s someone you’re becoming. It’s not just the like getting the money to pay it off. You really do have to become the person who’s debt free. That’s so big. What’s the mindset of someone who’s debt free?

You know what? For me, literally, it’s just like I don’t carry a credit card balance from month to month. It’s just like, this is who I am. I don’t.

A hundred percent.

I just don’t same. And I use credit cards.

I love the perks. I love using them and, but I’m not, I’m gonna leverage the credit cards and I’m not gonna let the credit cards leverage me. That’s my thought. 

That’s exactly how I think about it. Like I don’t, that’s never even an option for me to. To, to spend more on my card that I can pay off. You know? So I just don’t even give that as, it’s like, that would never be an option for me because I am not a match to debt. That’s how I think about it, and that’s how I’ve started practicing it.

Yeah. Huge. So 

And so another way you can stay out is just like under, like become aware. If you’re in a cycle, become aware of the cycle.

’cause just like you said, you can. Pay it off quickly and then become the person who doesn’t have debt anymore. But you have to wake up to the fact that, oh, I’m in this cycle where. My brain likes being in debt ’cause it’s familiar. And so I have to consciously, intentionally stay out and you can, um, do that.

So sometimes with clients, they do want to, you know, take their lump sum or whatever and pay it off. And my job as their coach is to help them to stay out and with the mindset piece and the, you know, help them to keep walking the way they wanna walk. But yeah, yeah, I

I love that. Okay. I’m curious, do you believe in budgeting for high earners?

Well, I don’t call it budgeting, but I think you and I don’t believe.

What do you call it?

Uh, I call it the three bank account Money management system. Oh, I

I love it. I love it. I know sometimes that word is just a trigger. It’s like, let’s just shift the word and we can completely shift how

Well, and it’s, and it’s not budgeting it, it’s, it takes, so I help my clients create a, a, a system that’s based.

That’s based off of you separate your money into different accounts based on, um, I’ll just tell you what it is. So the first account is your household account. So that’s where all your necessities, um, fixed bills, um, the things you that you need to pay every month to run your life that comes out of that account.

Then there’s a spending account, which is your fun money. You get to do, do you get to do whatever you want with this money? So I do not let my clients put themselves on a restrictive budget ’cause they don’t work. It’s like going on a strict diet, you might lose the weight, but it’s coming back. So we have to, you know, you gotta have some fun money.

And then a savings account, a high yield savings account. Now if you’re a business owner, we have, that’s your personal, and if you are, ’cause I do work with some business owners who are coaches and. For small business owners. That’s your personal, and then we do something similar for your business. 

Mm-hmm.

Yes. And then you set up automatic payments. I, it’s so freeing and liberating. You don’t feel like all you need to know is like, I can spend whatever I want out of this account. The spending account, you have your own little debit card for it. You know what it is. That’s your boundary. What you spending on is up to you.

the only boundary is the amount that you’ve given yourself and you gave it to yourself based on your life and your goals. So yeah. 

Oh,

it’s so good. Isn’t it great too? I mean, I just love it because I think so many people think budgeting, it’s restrictive, and your thought about it is, oh my gosh, it’s so freeing. And as you talk about it, you light up about it. And what’s great is that that can be the case. It’s all about how we hold it, how we think about it, and how we strategically do it to where you’re not completely rich.

It’s not all or nothing. It’s so vague. That’s so

You’re not doing a bunch of tracking and all of that.

You don’t have to do all that. 

Yeah.

Yeah. So good. So I.

I’d love to hear actually, for those who are not high earners yet and they are becoming high earners, do you, if you were to just speak to that person and say, this is the advice that I would give, this is what I wish I had known growing up, this is what you know, has really inspired me.

What do you think that would be for the person who wants to become a high earner so that they can be in that place where they can look at their. You know, expenses and say, oh look, I do have overflow here.

and listen, you don’t, here, okay, so here’s what I say.

You don’t have to the, the term, you know, I say people who make good money or people who are high earners, you get to define what that means because some, I have some clients who make. Multiple six figures and they don’t think that they’re a high earner. And then I have clients who make a hundred K and they’re like, I make all this.

Like, so it’s very relative. So if you think you make good money, if you think you’re a high earner, you can do this. And if you’re not, and if you’re not, then I wanna tell you something Jamie said to my audience on my podcast, which was, um, I think you were episode either 1 38 or 1 39. So And you said that.

You, the amount of money you make is based on the thoughts you think. And so wherever you are now, you do not have to stay there. Your income is actually unlimited. And I will say when you take care of the money you currently have, that will free you up to be able to really take things to the next level as you make more.

Because one of the things I hear a lot from people who are, you know, high earners, making good money. Is that they say to fix their money issues, they wanna just make more money. Yeah. And making more money doesn’t fix it. That the key is to manage the money you have now, and then when you make more, that habit is already there and you just continue on with it.

So wherever you are, it doesn’t matter. You can do, you can do both. You can figure out based on your life, based on your income, a a strategy within this for you too. 

That is so good. And in some ways how freeing is it to start earlier? Because it’s like if you start that habit now, you’ll just bring it with you because so many people think the solution is to make more, the solution is to make more. And I mean, both of us have coached people where we know that is not the case because the same.

You know, habits, the same thoughts are carried with you if you don’t work with them. And you will be in the same situation. Only now it’s really frustrating ’cause you’re making a million dollars a year and you’re like, where’s all the money? I’m still in scarcity. What the heck? Like, and then it’s like, ouch.

You know?

And can I say something? Um, what I see a lot with business owners and coaches, consultants, small business owners, um, you definitely wanna invest in yourself.

You wanna invest in your business. But one of the things I see is over spending in your business, I mean, I was just looking at a, a Instagram um, reel, and this is a money coach for tattoo artists. Such a cool thing. Right. And he

What I love

I know, I know. And he helps them ’cause, you know, with their money and all that.

But he did it real where it was just like, oh my gosh, this is such, this, uh, ink machine is such a good, good investment. And so was this one. And so was this one. They had like 10 of them. And like, so that’s one of the things you wanna be careful with too, as you are, you know, making good money. It’s like, okay, where’s, where are the leaks?

It could be overspending in your business, it could be overspending in your personal life. Um, emotional spending, spending to make yourself feel better when you’re bored, when you’re stressed. So keep all of that in mind too.

So good. That’s so good. How do you know if someone’s overspending or how would they know?

I think 

Yeah, you gotta

Yeah. And they know like when you’re, if you’re questioning where is all my money going? Or you’re like, I’m in credit card debt. I don’t have savings. Like the results are, you don’t have money. So that means you’re probably 

That’s a sure sign You’re overspending. That’s so good.

Either you’re overspending or you’re underearning. Either one. Either one. Okay. And most of my clients is overspending. 

Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

that’s 

Mm-hmm. 

Okay, so you have this podcast episode. So Jermaine’s podcast is be called Becoming the Wealthy You. And it’s so good. Go on over there and you know, subscribe to it. It’s so awesome. I think you guys will love it along with this one. They just go hand in hand. Um, and your episode is called How to Raise the Standards For Your Finances and Elevate Your Life.

And I saw that title and I thought, oh my gosh. I love that. Raise the standard for your finances. Like that title just lit me up. ’cause I love the idea of that. How would you describe what that is and how someone can decide to do that?

Yeah, so, okay. So I think there are five core areas of money and so in my coaching that’s what we’re mastering. We’re mastering the five core areas. The first one’s income, um, and most already have, are doing well with that.

But of course. Jamie always says, you can always make more money. And where I’m all for that, right? ’cause your income is unlimited. The amount of you, uh, money you can earn is unlimited. The next one is your spending. So like if you are someone. Who knows you’re overspending. Um, I don’t know if you talk about the term buffering on this, on your podcast at all, but when you’re spending to make yourself feel better when you’re spending to cope with a negative emotion, like you can raise the standard to say, okay, I’m no longer someone who overspends.

When I’m bored, I figure out a way I get to the root cause, especially if I’m always bored, I’m gonna get to the root cause of my boredom so I can fix that. Maybe it’s you’re in a career that you don’t love, or maybe you wanna have some new hobbies, or maybe you wanna have some new friends, or maybe you wanna start dating.

Right? And so we shop over the boredom, but we never get to the reason why we’re bored. So that’s a standard you can 

Yes. Ooh. 

that standard. Like, I don’t, I no longer shop when I’m bored. I, I do this instead. Um, what we talked about just a few minutes ago, like how do you have the mindset of not ha having debt?

You could just be like, okay, my new standard is, my old standard was I would carry debt from month to month, but my new standard is I don’t do that And then the second one can be, or the third one can be around savings. Like, okay. I am currently someone who really doesn’t have much saved or I don’t save, you know, regularly.

Now I’m someone who saves automatically. This is the first thing I do with my money. Same with investing. So it’s just leveling up wherever you are and going up a notch and practicing being that like it might not happen overnight, but practice like leveling up that way. 

I love that so much, and I love, I think words matter so much in terms of how we hold stuff and what we actually do. And it’s so amazing because there’s different ways you could look at it. You could think, oh gosh, you know, not spending, that’s deprivation, but there’s another way of looking at it.

No, I’m raising the standard for myself. I’m raising the standards for my fine. That’s not someone I, I. I, my standards are higher than that. And like, how empowering is that sentence and that decision versus I have to restrict and, oh, poor me. I can’t do that because I’m trying to save my money. It’s just, it’s so much more empowering.

So yeah, I love that and I wanna invite everyone who’s listening to think about that for themselves and think. Where could I raise my standards with money? You know, where could I raise my standards with myself or my business? And how can I practice becoming that person? Because that’s huge. We talk about that in manifestation too.

It’s like, it is about becoming an energetic match and becoming that person and practicing and, um, letting it be a journey. So that’s. So, so good. I love it. So I actually have one final question. Maybe I’m more of a personal question, but I kind of feel like my listeners are gonna get so much out of it because you mentioned that you work your corporate sales job and you do your coaching, and I know a lot of people.

I, I mean, I’m just curious what inspired that decision, because I think there’s a lot of listeners that are in that, that sometimes some of them have a job, some of them are trying to build their business, or they think that they have to do one or the other, and I’d love to hear more about that and um, yeah, how you, how you balance

Okay. So one of the things I decided. When I was getting my money together was that I had a, a huge goal to send both of my kids to college debt free, because that was a big thing for me and my husband. We both came into the marriage with student loan debt, and I was thinking to myself like, oh my gosh.

What would’ve been different for us if we didn’t have that, if our parents just didn’t, they have money for us or something where we wouldn’t have started our lives? A hundred K in the hole. With the student loans. Right. And so I had a dream that I wanna send both of my kids to school debt free. And I have a junior in college right now that we’re doing that with.

And I have a, I know, and I have a senior. In high school who, so I’m, next year, I’m gonna have two kids in college. So my job, I love my job

Yeah.

and I love my business because again, I wanna do both. I wanna build wealth and enjoy life. And so, and I, and part of my, um, building wealth is twofold, like for me. So I’m investing heavily and I’m investing in my kids, and I have, I wanna be like the rich grandma who does all this stuff.

So I, I like my job. I, and I love coaching, so why can’t I do both? I

I love that so much and I think sometimes it’s just giving permission and being like, I do love both, and I can do both, and they can all come in and like, um, be such, you know, be a part of the vision and the goals and so That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I

are so welcome. And I will say, when I first, um, got bit by the coaching bug, I hated my job because I was just like, I wanna just coach full time. And then I had to do some mindset work around it. Like, okay. Yes. And you also have these really big goals. Your kids are very near where they, you know, Are about to go to college. You also have, yeah. Go, you know, the, the saying, put your own oxygen mask on first so you have goals for yourself and your wealth. And so I just love, love my job because, and I didn’t hate it before. I just wanted to coach full-time. So if that’s you. Know that it’s okay and you can do some, you really can do some mindset work around that.

If, if you’re in a situation where you’re like, I do want to have the two, think of it as multiple streams of income, that’s what I, that’s how I think about it. 

Oh,

that’s amazing. Yes, so, so good. Okay, so a lot of people ask me, actually, I get this all the time. In fact, I just did a q and a and this was one of the questions that was submitted that I didn’t get to get to. So this’ll be perfect to ask you. They say, um, you know, I have a job. I love my job, but I feel like it limits me.

I feel like the only way to really create abundance is through a business, is through having a business. But I don’t wanna be an entrepreneur. Do you believe that’s true?

No. I know plenty of people who work, um, for someone else and their millionaires.

I mean, it depends on what your definition of abundance is. Like. No, I think you can do both. You can, you can become ab abundant. And a millionaire. Either way, you get to decide you can. 

Yes. How do you become a millionaire when you have a job?

So, yeah, I mean, first of all, some people make. Almost a million dollars a year and you definitely need to be investing your money.

So, okay, so wealth building doesn’t come from you working for your money, it comes from your money working for you. Yes.

Yes. Oh yes.

So that’s, that’s the key. So you have to be willing to, um, make sure that your money that you’re investing. And a lot of companies, by the way, they’re matching your 401k contributions, like 6%.

Some of them are putting money in even if you don’t. And so think about that. Let’s say, um, they’ll match you 6%. If you put in 6%, they’ll put in 6%, and then they give you an additional 3% on top of that. So that’s 9% of your income. I’m sorry, not 9%. That’s 12, 13, 14, 15% of your income. Just going to work for you every, every year and MA and making you more money and your interest is making interest.

So yeah, a hundred percent. And then you can always have a business too, like why not?

Totally a hundred percent e either one. It’s a channel for wealth to flow through and you gotta do what you’re passionate about, what feels right to you, what you feel called to, to, of the richest people that I know are, were teachers their whole life. They’re retired now. They, they’re

my gosh, I was

so wealthy because they learned how to invest and they learned how to make their money work for them, and also how to make their career work for them through different things.

Right? And so it’s just not true that you have to be an entrepreneur to create incredible wealth and, um, yeah, it’s huge.

it’s so big and I will say that.

There’s a book called The Millionaire Next Door, and they said, it says exactly what you just said. Like teachers are the ones that are more, most likely to retire millionaires. And they compare them to like doctors, they call, they say doctors are under accumulators of wealth because. Of this, the status, the spending and the, the way they, their lifestyle is, and teachers are usually, you know, their, their, their income is modest, but they’re putting it away and they’re, it’s so interesting

they’re more conscious of it because they kind of have to be because they don’t have that abundance. But when you make so much money, it’s easier almost if you don’t take on the mindset to just be loose with it and not care. But yeah, the teachers that I know who created incredible wealth, neither of them made.

Even $200,000 a year. They were both making about a hundred. I don’t even think together they made 200, you know? So like amazing.

And I’ll leave you with one more thing. Um, one of my clients said to me, she was like, Jermaine, when I was making less money, I felt more in control of it. I felt more on top of it because I had to. And then once I started making more money, I thought I could just, you know, not pay as much attention and look at me.

I’m in debt now. And so, yeah, it’s so important, like no matter how much you make, that you are conscious of it, that you’re taking care of it, that you’re managing it well, because. It no matter what income level you’re at, money wants attention. Yeah.

Yeah. Yep. So good. I loved this conversation so much. First of all, I just, I love talking to fellow coaches and I even more so love talking money with money coaches and you’re amazing, Jermaine. So it’s so, I had so much fun on your podcast and I’m so grateful that you came on and there’s just so much gold in this episode.

I can’t wait for people to hear it. So, um, if you could share, I know everyone’s gonna wanna follow you, listen, connect all the things. So tell everyone a little bit about how they can find you and connect with you and work with

Yes. So I just completed a, a private podcast series. It’s a audio series. That’s called How to Build Wealth Without Going on a strict Budget. And it’s five bingeable episodes. You can download it. Um, I’ll give you the link and just binge the episodes and it’ll give you an overview of how you can do this.

And that’s at jermaine foley.com/wealth class. And that’s Jermaine with the G of course. I’ll give Jamie the

it’ll be in the show

Absolutely, yes. I’ll give you the link. Yeah. But otherwise, um, that’s the best way. And if you’re like, no, I. Just wanna work with you, then you can find me at jermaine foley dot consult.

Um, ’cause some people are like, I just wanna dive in. Jermaine, I’m ready. So yeah. And I do one-on-one coaching. 

I

love it. Awesome. Amazing. So go connect with Jermaine. Go listen to the private podcast. We’ll put it in the show notes. Jermaine, thank you so much. This was an amazing conversation. I so appreciate you being 

thank you, Jamie. This was so much fun. 

join us and I would love to support you with this work. Let’s make some money.